Game



Patented Aug. 27, 1940 GAME Raphael A. Pilla, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application September 12, 1939, Serial No. 294,433

2 Claims.

' This invention has to ,do with games and is concerned primarily withgames of the type involving the progressive movement of a marker orcounter.

At the present time there are available to the public various gamesincluding a ladder or pathway of success, and which games involve themovement of a counter or marker along the ladder or pathway. With thenow known games of this type the movement of the marker is controlled oractuated by devices that depend solely on luck or chance.

With this condition in mind this invention has in View, as an importantobject, the provision of a game of the character above noted in whichthe movement of the marker or counter is con; trolled by a deviceinvolving skillful manipulation; the successful operation of the devicedepending not only on the players knowledge of the theory underlying thedevice, but also skill ful manipulation of the same.

More in detail this invention has. in view, as

an object, the provision of a game of the character above noted whichincludes a playing board that involves certain novel features.

More in detail this invention has in mind'an arrangement in which theladder or pathway is divided up into two main sections. In the lower orfirst section the counter or marker progresses upon every successfulmanipulation of the playing device. When the playermakes an unsuccessfulattempt to manipulate the device, this failure is recorded on anotherportion of the card, and these failures or unsuccessful attempts mustbe'removed before progress can be made in the higher section of theladder.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of I a game of thecharacter above notedwhich includes a novel type of playing device asthe means for controlling movement of the marker. Along this line theinvention has in view, as a further detailed object, the provision of adevice comprising a stick and a strip offiexible material that maybewound about the stick, the stick being considerably longer than thestrip of material. l

In accordance with this invention the strip is first doubled on itselfto form'a bighti which re?- ceives the stick. The double thickness ofthe strip is then wound tightly about the stick until the entire doublestrip is so wound. The player now grasps the stick at either end withouttouching the fabric, and by manipulationattempts to so unwind the doublestrip that the bight will shift from its original position of: receivingthe! stick to one at the side thereof sothat when the unwinding iscompleted the fabric will fall free from the stick. I I H It. is obviousthat in order for the player to successfully manipulate thesticktoobtain the] desired end he must either depend on luck, or have aknowledge of the windings of the, strip about the stick.

Various other more detailed objects and advantages of the invention willin part become apparent, andin part be hereinafter stated, as thedescription of the invention proceeds,

The invention, therefore, comprises a novel game including a playingcard which carries a ladder or pathway of success, and certain placeswhere failures or disappointments may be scored. Acount'er is intendedto be moved along the'ladder or pathway'of success which is included inthe card, and the movement of the counter is controlled by a playingdevice that consists particularly of a stick; and a stripof flexiblematerial that is adapted to be wound thereabout, suc-'- cessfulmanipulation of the stick ending in an unwinding of the strip therefromwithout the player touching the same with his hands.

For a full and morecompl'ete understanding of the inv'ention referencemay be had tothe following description and accompanying drawing, whereinFigure'l is a plan view of a playing card which is designed inaccordance with the precepts of this invention,

Figure 2 is a side elevational showing of a stick with a stripofmaterial wound 'thereabout,

Figure 3 is a'view takenfrom the end "with the stick shown in section,the material being in the tightly wound condition of Figure 2, j

Figure 4 is a view showing the stick and 'certain turns of the stripwinding-in an expanded relation, i

Figure 5 shows the relative position of the stick and the bight when thedouble strip of Figure l'has been unwound,

Figure 6 is aview similar to Figure 4 but'de-' veloping a change in thewindings involving an additional turn of a single thickness of thestrip,

Figure 7 is a view showing the relative position of the stick and thebight when the strip in the condition of Figure -6 is unwound.

-Referring now to the drawing, whereinlike ref erence charactersdenote'corresponding parts, a playing card which is intended to be anessential element-of the present game'is shown in Figure 1 andidentified by the'reference character A. This card may be made from anysuitable material, such as cardboard, and as many of the cards A may beincluded in a single set as desired.

In order that the game may be more appealing to the players the card maycarry a character which is associated With the attainment of success ora particular wish. Thus the jinni of Arabian mythology may be includedon the card A as one example of this idea. This fanciful character isdesignated l0, and within the outline of the same the card A carries aladder or pathway of success which is identified in its entirety by thereference character II. This ladder or pathway of success includes aplurality of individual steps l2 which may carry appropriatedesignations for certain particular lines of endeavor.

It is important to note that the ladder of success H includes a dividingline such as indicated at E3, which marks off the steps l2 above andbelow said line. In the form of the invention illustrated in the drawingthe ladder of success ll includes various steps which might beassociated with the advance of a young boy entering the employ of abank. Each player must have a card of the general character indicated.Obviously this is intended purely for illustrative purposes, and isintended to be no limitation on the invention.

A marker which is to be employed in conjunction with the ladder H isshown at M, and on the occasion of the first successful manipulation ofthe playing device, which is hereinafter described in detail, the playerplaces this marker i l on the lower-most step ii. On the occasion ofevery successive successful manipulation of the playing device thismarker Hi may advance one step.

In order to facilitate progress during the early stages of the playingof the game, all successful attempts of the player to manipulate theplaying device will result in a forward movement of the marker 64, thisrule applying up to the dividing line i3.

However, all failures or unsuccessful attempts are intended to berecorded by placing a marker M in the appropriate scoring columns underWish Disappointments which are designated !5. When five failures are sorecorded no progress above line it can be made as a result of successfulmanipulation until each block of five failures is cancelled by onesuccessful manipulation; if less than five failures are on the scoreeach success entitles the player to advance one step above line i3,except that the final step may not be taken until all failures areremoved.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 2 to 7, inclusive, the novelplaying device of this invention will be described.

This device includes, as an essentialelement, a stick l6 which may carryat each end fanciful or ornamental characters which might have somerelation to the pictorial representation on the card A. For instance, inline with the jinni of Arabian mythology which is shown on the card A,the stick It might carry, at each end, representations of Aladdins Lamp,which are designated ill;

A strip of material is shown at if as being of double thickness andtightly wound about the strip i6. Prior to winding of the strip ofmaterial !8 about the stick it the same is folded back on itself to forma double thickness terminating in a bight, such as shown at E9 inFigures 4 and 5. The double thickness strip is then tightly wound aboutthe strip to assume the condition shown in Figures 2 and 3, whichprovides an inner layer and an outer layer 2 I.

Referring now more particularly to Figure 4, it will be noted that ifexactly the same number of turns are made by the inner and outer layers20 and 2 i, respectively, the stick it, for all effective purposes,remains in the bight 59 so that if the double thickness is completelyunwound by the player the bight it will catch the stick I6 in the mannerdepicted in Figure 5. Such a result would, in accordance with the theoryof this game, be considered a failure or unsuccessful attempt, and wouldresult in one scoring under Wish Disappointments.

Referring now more particularly to Figures 6 and '7 it will be notedthat the outer layer 2| has been unwound for one turn in the directionof the arrows of Figure 4. At the same time the inner layer 28 has notbeen so carried around. This results in a shifting of the bight from thelocation identified by the reference character I!) to that locationmarked 22. Thus When the double strip is completely unwound the bight i9assumes the position at one side of the stick it, as shown in Figure 7,with the result that the strip will fall away from the stick, this beingthe result of successful manipulation by the player.

It is, of course, possible that a player might manipulate the stick andaccidentally cause one layer to unwind without the simultaneousunwinding of the other layer for the same turn, and thus achieve thedesired result more or less by chance. However, it is evident that aplayer having a knowledge of the windings, and the manner in which thebight shifts from the location marked 59 to that designated 22, will beable to combine this knowledge with successful manipulation to morereadily achieve the desired result.

While various flexible materials may be employed for the strip l8, theinvention has particularly in mind the use of an appropriate fabric.Also various types of ornamental features may be included in the card A,fabric H3 or stick 5 6 to carry out any desired theme.

Preferably, each player chooses a card which best expresses hisambition. The number of playing sticks he has to manipulate each turn heis allowed to play depends upon the number of steps in the ladder, thatis, one stick for each step. The first player to reach the top is thewinner.

While a preferred specific embodiment of the invention is hereinbeforeset forth it is to be clearly understood that the invention is not to belimited to the exact constructions illustrated and described, becausevarious modifications of these details may be provided in putting theinvention into practice within the purview of the appended claims.

' I claim:

1. In a game of the character described, a playing device comprising astrip of flexible material comparable to a fabric and having a bodycapable of holding a roll formation, said strip being doubled on itselfto form a. bight with the strip of material defining two layers that arefolded into a multi-turn roll, a member received in said bight andprojecting from each side of said roll an appreciable distance andsupporting said roll, said roll frictionally engaging said memberwhereby rotation of said member causes a. corresponding rotation of saidroll to shift the bight in said strip whereby the strip may be caused tofall .free from said member.

2. In a game of the character described, a playing device comprising afabric strip having a body capable of holding a roll formation doubledon itself to form a bight and defining two layers, said strip beingwound into a multi-turn roll with the bight at the center thereof, astick received in said bight and projecting from each I side of saidroll, said roll being supported by and frictionally engaging said stickwhereby rotation of said stick causes a corresponding rotation of saidroll to shift the bight in said strip, and a handle element at each endof said stick.

RAPHAEL A. PILLA.

